NoDoji's Day Trading Log

Once I can exercise absolute discipline in my trading for a couple of weeks, I will consider increasing my position size. Part of that discipline includes taking ALL my setups, not just short trades, not just 2 or 3 stocks. I'll get there

 

No rush because I asked.It took me 5 yrs what you achieved in less than 1 yr.Today I shorted EBAY between 12.71 to 12.68 stop 12.82,covered at 12.55 to 12.45.took average .17 on 30k shares.I was very confident, DOW/NQ was in downtrend,but still left lot of $$ on the table.No more regular post in profit/loss thread.

 

I appreciate the compliment, Jack.

If I had twice my account size, I would still have to use 80% of the resulting day trading margin to trade that size EBAY, and I can't think of any reason for doing that, except to take advantage of a quick news-based trade (such as back on 8/18 when AMLN reported deaths related to one of their products).

Also, your P/L posts definitely belong in the P/L thread. Don't be afraid of competing with those $220,000 players; you'll get there.

 

It's funny, how in our line of work, you could be doing seemingly everything right, but if you have a just a tiny bit of mental slippage all of a sudden you post a (small) losing day here and there.

It's all in the head. I am not worried about yours though - that one is not only pretty but smart too!

 

Ahh.. stick with your stop (and risk it getting hit), or take the green went it's sitting in your hands.. I know the feeling.

I've never really figured out the answer to this one


Reminds me of that show "Cash Cab"

"..you can take the $800 now and go home, or risk it all on a Video Bonus Question for $1600! Whats your choice?"

 

Woooah. Easy there, big boy. She's married as well. Nod, make sure you arm the security system before you go to bed.

Haha j/k

 

Hermit

+$346 Day
+$4959 Month
+$20194 Quarter

Offered 36.50 HANS on open, touched but no fill, dropped like a rock, didn’t chase.

Was actually watching DRI for a long (seriously, a long; and my palms did not sweat) as it hit the lo ticker all morning. Looking for higher low, but the bounce was off the initial low and it stalled after that, so I moved on, though it turned out a good long after all.

Short MYGN @ 46.50, lower high, stock and SPY approaching overbought, though not yet there. Impatience on my part cost me a much better entry as full overbought tested the high, broke through and fell back quickly. To be fair though, it was at the stochastic 80 line and stalled hard at a lower high. Trading is an imperfect art form. Target of 46.20 filled for a $150 gain.

Had a GTC stop @ 1.25 on NFLX to make sure I didn’t let a profit turn into a loss and it was hit for a $150 gain. Had a $600 gain yesterday. Dam, maybe should’ve trailed a close stop, or placed one at b/e? Who knows. Offered 1.55 later, came close, no fill. Still looking at a replay depending on tomorrow's action.

Watching MFE for test of HOD, it pulls back off a lower high, and I short @ 33.83, stop @ 33.93 just above previous resistance. It pulled back a bit then stalled around 33.82, where I had a very strong urge to exit based on the L2 action, but instead left my stop in place, hit for a $58 loss. Posting the chart, because it’s an educational one, IMHO, on intraday S/R and price action at those points.

Short MYGN @ 46.48 overbought, SPY overbought. Target of 46.17 just above previous support filled for a $156 gain. Hoped for a re-playable bounce there, but it instead tested next support, broke down and just tanked right through the LOD before bouncing at all. Left behind well over twice what I took.

I was also watching RNT make a new high and wanted in, but for some reason stuck with one trade at a time. That was a fantastic short entry .03 cents from the top had I played it. Ah, regrets.

I'm holding an unrealized loss with HOTT, but not enough to knock my YTD return below 30%, placing me well ahead of minimum target of 100% 2009 return. HOTT is the last of my extremely stupidly managed trades and I expect a decent retracement off these highs, but will have to scale out at pullbacks if not and take the hit.

I look forward to a 2nd quarter of exemplary discipline, followed by increased share size, and a profit target of at least 25% over this quarter.

BIG GREEN to all in Q2!

 

Nodoji,

It is very heartening to see a fairly new trader to have such an impressive quarter, and it gives other new traders like me hope. As I read through your posts, I have several questions:

1. how do you set your profit target? Sometimes I see you take big profits like in the 100s or 1000s, other times I see you happily check out a position with $30 profit. Do you just take profit whenever you see fit and not follow a hard set target?
2. the other side of the question, what's your rule for your stop?
3. I often see you mention that you enter a trade when the stock fail to make higher high or lower low. What time frame are you referencing to? Is the "failure to make HH or LL" within the last 10mins or othe lengths of time or compared to its immediate last bar/candle stick that you use?

Thanks, and I wish you continued success next quarter!

OC

 

Thank you, OC!

I do not use a fixed profit target. My first target zone is a) the opposite stochastic spectrum from my entry, or b) an expected pivot off a trend line or moving average.

Although I usually take profits at these points, I sometimes exit sooner if the Level 2 price action starts to indicate that the trade may no longer be valid all the way to the expected target zone. So I may expect to take $50-$100 from a small move, but exit for just $20 or $30 if I don't like the "feel" of it.

When I trade larger position size, I will likely take half profits at the initial target, then move the stop to break even and see if the other half can ride further, in certain cases where I expect a trend to continue.

My big winners are often stocks like AIPC, which can have a 1.00/share move in 3 minutes sometimes. APOL was a nice money machine for me earlier this year, same reason, big fast moves.

I have taken some short trades at major resistance levels and added to them or held them too long, not using stops, expecting retracements. I no longer do this. It's not worth the draw down and possible large loss.

So now every trade has a hard stop specific to the move I anticipate. So today's MFE trade was based on a lower high. It should not reverse and move above that lower high or the reason for me putting on the trade has been removed. That's why I placed a stop .02 cents above the lower high, and sure enough it made a new high once that price level was violated. I could've placed a much wider stop and stayed in the trade, but I now prefer to get out quickly and re-evaluate a better entry.

I may occasionally place a wider stop, (such as with MYGN today which moves in chunks and has a wide spread) but there will definitely be a hard stop for every trade.

If I'm day trading only I look for a lower high to short or a higher low to go long based on the 3-minute intraday chart.

If I'm considering a swing trade, I will look for overbought or oversold on the 30-day chart and compare that to longer term S/R such as 6-month or 1-year.

 

Hi Nodoji! Love your blog. I like how you explain your thoughts and that you keep it "real" and not try to brag or boast about your trading abilities.

One question though -- how are you handling the taxes involved with trading? I am just getting a handle on this and was wondering if the wash sale rule apply or if you are you classified as mark to market trader?

Thanks for any insight